LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

Existing law generally requires that a transaction involving a firearm be conducted through a licensed firearms dealer. This requirement does not apply under existing law to the sale or transfer of a firearm to an authorized law enforcement representative for exclusive use by that law enforcement agency if, prior to the transfer of the firearm, written authorization from the head of the agency is presented to the person from whom the transfer is being made. In these cases, existing law requires the firearm to be entered as an institutional weapon into the Automated Firearms System (AFS) via the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System.

This bill would require a law enforcement agency, as defined, to adopt a written procedure to account for firearms that are owned, acquired, maintained, sold, loaned, lost, stolen, or in any way
possessed by that agency or by an employee of that agency if used or carried for purposes of carrying out the official duties of his or her employment, as specified. The bill would require that firearms that are lost, stolen, or otherwise disposed of be entered into the AFS. By imposing additional duties on local law enforcement agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

(a) Law enforcement agencies have a responsibility to account for, and keep track of, their firearms to ensure that they are not lost or stolen and do not end up in the hands of criminals.

(b) Existing law does not sufficiently require law enforcement agencies to account for, keep track of, or in any other way monitor the firearms owned by the agency or its officers.

(c) Law enforcement agencies and their officers are responsible for protecting the public and preserving
the public peace and, therefore, have the responsibility of maintaining their firearms in a manner that comports with their public safety mission.

SEC. 2.

Division 3.5 (commencing with Section 24900) is added to Title 4 of Part 6 of the Penal Code, to read:

DIVISION 3.5. Law Enforcement Agency Firearms

24900.

(a) A law enforcement agency, as defined in subdivision (d), shall adopt a written procedure to account for all firearms that are owned, acquired, maintained, sold, loaned, lost, stolen, or in any way possessed by that agency, or by an employee of that agency that are used or carried for purposes of carrying out the official duties of his or her employment. The procedure shall, at a minimum, include all of the following:

(1) The maintenance and accurate written accounting of all agency firearms and also firearms used or carried by an employee within the course of his or her employment that are not owned by the agency, including a method for updating the written
accounting on a regular basis as firearms are destroyed, acquired, sold, loaned, lost, or stolen.

(2) Reconciliation of the written accounting required by paragraph (1) and firearms that are in possession of the agency or its employees, or both. The reconciliation shall occur no less than once every year.

(3) A requirement that agency employees report to the agency those lost or stolen firearms within five days of the date they know or reasonably should have known that the firearms were lost or stolen. This report shall satisfy the reporting requirement in subdivision (a) of Section 25255.

(4) A process for disciplining agency employees who fail to report lost or stolen firearms that is consistent with current disciplinary
procedures.

(b) Within 10 days of the date that a firearm described in subdivision (a) that is owned, acquired, maintained, or in any way possessed by that agency, or owned, acquired, maintained, or in any way possessed by an employee of that agency and used by that employee in carrying out his or her duties, is lost, stolen, or otherwise disposed of by the law enforcement agency, or by an employee of the law enforcement agency,
a record of that disposition shall be entered into the AFS via the CLETS by the law enforcement agency. An agency without access to the AFS shall arrange with the sheriff of the county in which the agency is located to input this information via the system.

(c) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

(1) “Law enforcement agency” means every district attorney, municipal police department, sheriff’s department, district attorney’s office, county probation department, and social services agency, the Department of Justice, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Department of the California Highway Patrol, the police department of any campus of the University of California, the California State University, or community college, and
every agency of the State of California expressly authorized by statute to investigate or prosecute law violators.

(2) “Firearm” has the same meaning as used in Section 16520.

SEC. 3.

If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.